Day 28: Tuesday, June 3. This was a rough day.

We had a major problem today. I brought three laptops with me for editing. I plug one into the projection system each day to watch portions of documentaries. Today, somehow, it seems the computer screen stopped functioning. The computer was still visible through the projection system, and the computer screen is not fried as it still "lights," but it is no longer possible to see anything on it. I asked for help from any of the Mac users in the class, and one or two tried, but none were able to restore it. Rebooted several times, but that didn't do it (that's about the extent of my expertise).

This was a major blow. Fifteen packages need to be edited by Friday. Instead of 3 computers to do it, we're now down to two. Actually, one or two have their own laptops with editing software so it's not really quite as bad as that, but it has put a major crimp in the schedule.

The frustration level has definitely risen. We talked in class today. The biggest frustration from the students is the fact that I didn't contact each of their churches in advance to pave the way for them. That is absolutely a fair criticism. Neither Filiberto or I thought we'd need to. Churches are open daily to the public. People go in the all the time to take pictures and video. One of my reasons for choosing churches as the subject matter was because they were prominent, easily accessible, and didn't care whether people spoke Italian or not. I visited churches with students if possible every time I was asked. There were some times I couldn't because I was visiting a different church with another student, or the times I went out of town. Some students asked for assistance several times, and others never asked. That's pretty normal. I will accept that I should have contacted their churches for them in advance. They need to accept that they did not start working soon enough. Many assumed it would be a one-day shoot and they'd be done. You don't get three college credits for a one day shoot. One of the students suggested in class that I need to tell students to start working right away.

This morning I visited the diocesan offices with a student to seek permission to record in his church. Of all of the students, he was the only one who was told by the priest that he was required to have permission from the diocese. Of course he told us that when we went there on Friday evening, so we couldn't go until today (Monday was a holiday). Add to that the fact that today was the day a new bishop was named for the Macerata diocese (causing a lot of activity in the offices) and our visit was a little - shall we say less of a priority. I met the student at 9 when they opened. We went from one office to another finding where we needed to be. Between internet problems, a pregnancy keeping the person we really should have gotten the permission from out of the office, and the frantic activity surrounding the impending announcement it was a mess. After a while things were figured out, but it would be a while. The guy took my phone number and said he would call back to let me know when the permission was ready. We left and about a half hour later he called. I went back and he asked a series of questions (name, phone, email, date of birth, place of birth, etc). I got the form. The student now has a great souvenir, suitable for framing, of his introduction to church bureaucracy.

This evening I met up with a student at his church to talk with his priest. He had wanted to go last Friday but I was already booked by two other students. He was gone for the weekend so it had to be today. I wondered why he didn't bring a camera along with him, but those were all booked, so he had to come one day to ask, then return the next day to shoot.

One more thing: today I spent more than 3 hours helping a student translate an interview he did with someone about his church. He had about 40 minutes of interview and I helped him to subtitle it. We didn't finish by the time I had to leave to meet up with the above-mentioned student.

By the time I got back to the apartment I was pretty much wiped out. I hadn't had lunch and I hadn't had much time that wasn't occupied - plus the devastation of the computer crash. I downed a beer and ate a bunch of peanuts even before Kim had dinner ready. She had taken the Greeks to a couple of spots today.